Swimming pools and spas are popular with consumers in a wide variety of environments. The type of pool or spa and the environment in which the pool or spa is operating in changes the user requirements for maintaining a pleasant experience. The temperature of the water in the pool or spa is one parameter that can be controlled that impacts the user experience when swimming in a pool or relaxing in a spa.
Water heaters for all types of applications are well known in the art. With the wide variety of conditions, many different types of pool heaters have been developed that use different sources of energy to heat pool water. Different types of heaters that consume electricity or gas have certain advantages and disadvantages depending on the environmental conditions. For example, traditional gas burning heaters may respond quickly to change the water temperature, but require a dedicated gas supply that may not be present in many warmer climate regions. In contrast, electrically powered heat pumps can be configured to be very efficient in warmer climates. However, the response time to heat the pool or spa water may be slower, and in cold conditions, the efficiency is dramatically reduced. Many pool operators that are faced with a variety of environmental conditions have opted to install separate energy source heaters to provide a heating unit that is appropriate for different conditions. This solution is less than ideal. More space is required to install two or more heaters with each usually having a separate controller. With separate controllers, the user or operator must make the decision of which system to use and must manually determine the most efficient operating schedule.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a single, self-contained unit that is adapted to be controlled by a single programmable controller to operate multiple energy source heaters in a single housing to provide flexibility and cost effective heating.